I don't remember anyone telling me i couldn't become whatever I wanted to become as I grew up in the eighties and for that reason it has taken me a long time to realise that I was brought up unequal but as an adult looking back I realise i was gently moulded by those around me to become what they considered lady-like. I really hate that term 'lady-like'; It suggests that wanting to mess with computers, to get covered in mud playing sports, to have more interest in the engineering principles taught by Meccano and Lego than the humdrum life of your inanimate Barbie Doll is somehow inappropriate for a girl or lady. I have a one year old daughter of my own called Aria, partly after the Character in the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series. Aria is a great namesake, she is willful, independent and focused. As a mother I aim to give Aria the opportunities I didn't have and try to help her be ready for an adult life that may be quite different to how we live now. I want her to have the confidence I have lacked and the ambition to do things with her life. I hope she will forgive me for buying her Meccano for Christmas when her friends have tiny tears dolls, for buying her the cute red, blue or green jumper or dress instead of the tacky pink crap that is persistently pushed on us by major companies. I hope she will forgive me for being uninterested in makeup and celebrities, 'women's' magazines and other 'women's' interests. For me, being a woman isn't for anyone else to define, to use to categorise me into a neat demographic pool. It is part of what makes me, me but it isn't the be all and end all of who i am. This is why, I believe in equality for women.